The Barrie Country Club on St. Vincent Street is hosting a pair of high-profile events in the nex few days.
On Sunday, July 14, it’s a Pro/Junior event that the PGA of Ontario (Professional Golfers’ Association) has created for the first time, in partnership with Barrie Country Club.
This event was developed as a means to express our gratitude to the members of Barrie Country Club for allowing the PGA of Ontario the opportunity to conduct the provincial championship on their golf course.
The afternoon rundown:
2:30 p.m. Pro Clinic: “Past Champions of Barrie”: This is a clinic led by MC and tournament chair for the PGA of Ontario, Michael Moniz. He will be guiding four past champions of the Ontario Zone Championship through a clinic put on for the junior golfers of Barrie Country Club.
4 p.m. Shotgun Start: The PGA of Ontario is sending 25 professionals to play nine holes, paired with a junior golfer from Barrie Country Club.
6:15 p.m.: Barbecue for all players and junior prize presentation for the top three juniors.
The second event is the PGA’s Ontario Zone Championship taking place on Monday, July 15 and Tuesday, July 16. There's a bigger field this year than they’ve had in several years, having to cap the entries at 80 players in order to uphold the tournament standard as planned, officials say. With the overwhelming interest, they’ve settled on a cut for Round 2 on Tuesday to include only the bottom 60 scores, with all others being eliminated.
The PGA of Ontario Zone Championship, presented by TaylorMade and Adidas Golf, is the longest-running tournament in the history of the Ontario Zone. First contested in 1939, the PGA of Ontario Championship is synonymous with some of Canada's most accomplished club and touring professionals.
Those names include Moe Norman, George Knudson and Al Balding. The PGA of Ontario Championship has been contested at some of Ontario's top golf courses: Barrie (2002-2012), Deer Ridge (2013-2014), St. Catharines (2015-2016), Wyndance in 2017, and Black Bear Ridge in 2018. This year the historic event now returns to Barrie Golf & Country Club.
National partners TaylorMade and Adidas support a major championship in all nine PGA Zones which sees the winner receive an early exemption into the PGA Championship of Canada in 2019.
Brian Hadley, defending champion, returns to compete this year and could be setting a record for the association. There are less than a handful of professionals that have won the zone championship more than once, and Hadley is going for his fifth win of the historic competition.
